The American Academy of Family Physicians strongly encourages all of its members and staff to personally avoid tobacco use. The AAFP urges its members to:How can we put these things into effect on a local level?
- save lives by working toward elimination of all tobacco use;
- document use of tobacco products in patient charts;
- work cooperatively with other health professionals to provide cessation counseling and other treatments;
- discourage tobacco use in all public and workplace settings; and,
- list tobacco as a cause on death certificates when appropriate.
Tar Wars is a program sponsored by the AAFP that is attempting to educate youth (12-17), which are particularly heavily targeted (and influenced) by tobacco advertisements. The program hopes to galvanize health care professionals to become proactive in the health education of their community, especially for tobacco-free education for students, by training presenters to give 1-hour-long presentations to local schools about the health risks of tobacco consumption (smoking and smoke-less).
Since youth (under 18 years old) are a primary target for much tobacco advertising (1,000+ become regular, daily smokers each day) and since much legislation, research and advocacy is focused on tobacco consumption in this age group, this seems to be a primary battleground for the "Tar Wars."
What are we doing in Family Medicine at BUSM?
We are interested in starting up a Tar Wars program here, but are looking for someone to spearhead the initiative. Send us an e-mail if you are interested in this...
What do you think? Is a "Tar Wars" program enough to battle BIG TOBACCO? What else can be done? Should BUMC receive money from Philip Morris to conduct research?
References
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